Gliederung

Refractory glaucoma is an important cause of vision loss in eyes which have suffered an ocular trauma. Raised IOP is either the result of trabecular damage or obstruction. This may occurr at an early stage or even months after the event has occurred. Early variations in IOP are generally associated with blunt trauma and due to a variety of events such as bleeding, angle recession and vitreous prolapse. Late onset glaucoma is generally related to reconstructive ocular surgery and due to anterior synaechiae formation or silicone oil dispersion.

Dealing with all these situations is difficult and often unsuccessful with conventional surgery. On the other hand, promising results have been obtained with the use of drainage devices such as the Ahmed glaucoma valve. The Author has been using this device for the past nine years and presents the technical pearls and pitfalls of implantation as well as the results obtained in this time-period.